[Abstract] This paper expounds the concept of "green packaging" and the way and correct method of "green packaging".
Keywords: green packaging; green packaging materials; packaging design
Green packaging refers to packaging that is harmless to the ecological environment and human health, can be reused and recycled, and conforms to the strategy of sustainable development. It is also called ecological packaging. From a technical point of view, green packaging refers to an environment-friendly packaging that uses natural plants and related minerals as raw materials to develop a harmless environment, human health, recycling, degradation, and sustainable development. In other words, its packaging products should meet the requirements of ecological and environmental protection from the selection of raw materials, the manufacture of products, to the entire life cycle of use and disposal. We should start from the green packaging materials, packaging design and vigorously develop the green packaging industry to achieve green packaging and achieve the purpose of green packaging.
1 Green packaging material
There are many kinds of green packaging materials, common are:
1) Edible packaging materials. Edible packaging based on plant polysaccharides or animal polysaccharides, mainly starch film, modified cellulose film, animal and vegetable adhesive film, chitosan film and so on.
2) Degradable materials. Under the action of photosynthesis or microorganisms in the soil and water, this kind of material can gradually decompose and reduce in the natural environment, and finally enter the ecological environment in a non-toxic form and return to nature. For example, a French dairy company's substance extracted from sugar beets is mixed with minerals to create an ecological package.
3) Repeated reuse and recycled packaging materials. Such as beer, beverages and other packaging using glass bottles can be used repeatedly. Polyester bottles can be regenerated in two ways after recycling.
4) Paper material. The raw material of paper is mainly natural plant fiber, which will quickly rot in the natural world, will not pollute the environment, and can also be recycled for papermaking. Many international companies now use recyclable paper for annual reports and publicity materials, use recycled paper to make letterhead and letter paper to reflect their green principles of environmental concern, and also establish a good corporate image. Paper materials also include pulp injection molding parts, composite materials, building materials and many other uses.
The development and development of green packaging materials has greatly reduced the use of non-degradable packaging materials, relieved the pressure on the ecological environment to a certain extent, reduced the depletion of increasingly exhausted petroleum resources, reduced environmental pollution, and also solved the international prohibition. The use of non-degradable packaging materials and restrictions imposed on our export commodities. The extensive use of green packaging materials is of great significance both from the perspective of the protection of the earth, from the overall perspective of the sustainable and healthy development of the national economy, and from the perspective of high-tech packaging materials. Although there are still some problems with green packaging materials, such as poor material thermoplasticity, high cost, complicated production process, narrow application range, and potential hazards associated with food contact packaging materials, there is reason to believe that with environmental science, biochemistry The cross-infiltration of such disciplines as polymer chemistry, these issues will be gradually resolved.
2 packaging design
Accurate and reasonable selection of materials in the packaging design process, coupled with the perfect creativity, can also play a decisive role in the development of green packaging. When designing, saving materials is also one of the contents of green packaging. If a package overemphasizes the structure and uses layers of packaging, it is intended to emphasize the quality of the goods. Despite the exquisite decoration techniques and high design tastes, the waste of materials is also not worth promoting. Moreover, in the design language, more emphasis should be placed on promoting information on environmental protection and creating a green packaging atmosphere among patterns, names, colors, and characters. In short, in terms of packaging design, materials selection, structure and function, production process, packaging methods, storage and transportation methods, product use, and waste disposal should be taken into consideration. All aspects should refer to the use of resources, environmental impact, and solutions. In the design, the principle of economy is always used throughout. The energy consumption is as low as possible, disassembly is easy, and the materials and components can be recycled.
In order to achieve “green†packaging design and serve the purpose of ecological energy conservation, packaging designers should adopt a scientific approach and master the following principles that must be followed in green design.
1) The principle of harmlessness. The harmless principle refers to the harmlessness and harmlessness of packaging to the environment. Its performance should be evaluated before the packaging design, that is, the impact of the design on the surrounding environment. What measures are taken to remedy possible negative effects? Second, the packaging is harmless to humans, which is mainly reflected in the packaging materials. On the one hand, people are eager to see the emergence of truly green materials at an early date. On the other hand, from the current state of affairs, the complete harmlessness of materials is only a relative concept. Because of this, it is certainly not a recipe for defamation. The package must be packaged, but it must be known to the packaging designer.
2) Ecological principles. Packaging green design principles include the maintenance of ecological environment balance. The conservation and utilization of various natural resources are specifically reflected in cyclicality, repetitiveness, intelligence, and functionality.
Cyclicality is an important part of the ecology.
Repeatability means to reuse all available packaging materials as much as possible to reduce energy consumption and reduce large amounts of packaging waste.
Intelligence is the future direction of packaging design. Intelligence is the use of high-speed data network to form a comprehensive cabling system to transmit various information and perform various intelligent controls.
Functionality means that all functions of the package can embody the principle of environmental protection and ecological balance. It is changing with the rapid changes in science and technology.
3) The principle of energy conservation. The scientific and technological content of green design is mainly reflected in the principle of energy conservation, and is reflected in the use of land and space, the development and utilization of new resources, and so on.
The development of new energy and new materials is a way out of green environmental protection. For example, solar energy, the country with the highest solar energy utilization rate is Australia, and solar energy has made considerable achievements in the field of packaging machinery. However, our country is still relatively backward, and the development and utilization of new materials and new technologies, especially the development and use of reusable materials, is a substitute for non-repeatable materials, which is of great value for energy conservation and the construction of green environmental protection packaging and the environment.
3 to develop China's green packaging industry
3.1 Accelerate Technical Innovation
The development of new materials, new processes and new products is the key to development. Looking at the course of economic development in various countries, the company’s own innovation capability is always the ultimate driving force for economic development. If China’s green packaging industry wants to achieve rapid development, it cannot be ignored. Enterprises play an important role in the use and invention of new technologies. Of course, this needs to improve the laws concerning the protection of technological patents and fundamentally motivate the enthusiasm of corporate inventions and creations.
3.2 Strengthening Legal Construction
We must establish and improve our country's environmental labeling system in accordance with international practice and carry out certification work at a high starting point. In the course of economic development, western countries have experienced the stage of “pollution first and then governanceâ€, which reminds other countries not to take such old roads again, but to minimize pollution while the economy grows, and this Need to establish and improve laws on environmental protection.
3.3 Government Support
In view of the gap between China's industry development level and the developed countries, China's participation in international competition will undoubtedly require the government to give proper support to the industry. Of course, the government should follow the principle of focusing on economic means and give certain preferential policies on environmental governance, taxation, and credit. At the same time, it allows enterprises to form a good mechanism for the introduction of advanced technologies and to achieve compliance with standards, and give full play to the initiative of the company.
At present, the international demand for packaging to meet 4R, reduce the amount of materials (Reduce), increase the amount of container refill (Refill), recycle recycling (Recycle), energy regeneration (Recover), and the establishment of a green packaging system has become the requirements of the WTO . China is a developing country, but the per capita share of resources is still very low, and environmental protection has a long way to go. We should put the principle of “green packaging†first. Designers must keep pace with the times, shoulder the mission of history, and be a packaging world. Create a new green situation. (Text / Sheng Zhongyi)